I’m also new to this and have been using Mint for my server, since it’s what I am using for my desktop. I’m planning on testing out moving it to Debian. If I’m being honest, the real reason is because the logo is cooler.

These resources are really all you need, but they’re all individually quite focused so for a new person it can be hard to see the forest.

An overview:

For movies, streaming sites are fine.

To start torrenting safely:

• get a paid vpn (i use mullvad)
• download qbittorrent or the like
• find a public tracker from the megathead, general ones are easy/convenient for starting imo
• virus scan/use common sense/be careful